Mary Grace Natividad Poe-Llamanzares vs COMELEC GR No. 221697 (2016)
FACTS: Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares (petitioner) was found abandoned as a newborn
infant in the Parish Church of Jaro, Iloilo by a certain Edgardo Militar (Edgardo) on 3 September 1968.
Parental care and custody over petitioner was passed on by Edgardo to his relatives, Emiliano Militar
(Emiliano) and his wife. When petitioner was five (5) years old, celebrity spouses Ronald Allan Kelley
Poe (a.k.a. Fenando Poe, Jr.) and Jesusa Sonora Poe (a.k.a. Susan Roces) filed a petition for her adoption
with the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of San Juan City. Having reached the age of eighteen (18) years in
1986, petitioner registered as a voter with the local COMELEC Office in San Juan City. On 4 April 1988,
petitioner applied for and was issued Philippine Passport. On 27 July 1991, petitioner married Teodoro
Misael Daniel V. Llamanzares (Llamanzares), a citizen of both the Philippines and the U.S., at Sanctuario
de San Jose Parish in San Juan City. Desirous of being with her husband who was then based in the
U.S., the couple flew back to the U.S. two days after the wedding ceremony or on 29 July 1991. On 8
April 2004, the petitioner came back to the Philippines together with Hanna to support her father's
candidacy for President in the May 2004 elections. She returned to the U.S. with her two daughters on
8 July 2004. After a few months, specifically on 13 December 2004, petitioner rushed back to the
Philippines upon learning of her father's deteriorating medical condition. Her father slipped into a
coma and eventually expired. The petitioner stayed in the country until 3 February 2005 to take care
of her father's funeral arrangements as well as to assist in the settlement of his estate.
The couple began preparing for their resettlement including notification of their children's schools that
they will be transferring to Philippine schools for the next semester. As early as 2004, the petitioner
already quit her job in the U.S. In late March 2006, petitioner's husband officially informed the U.S.
Postal Service of the family's change and abandonment of their address in the U.S. On 7 July 2006,
petitioner took her Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines pursuant to Republic Act (R.A.)
No. 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003. Again, petitioner registered as a
voter of Barangay Santa Lucia, San Juan City on 31 August 2006. She also secured from the DFA a new
Philippine Passport bearing the No. XX4731999. On 6 October 2010, President Benigno S. Aquino III
appointed petitioner as Chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board
(MTRCB). On 12 July 2011, the petitioner executed before the Vice Consul of the U.S. Embassy in
Manila an "Oath/Affirmation of Renunciation of Nationality of the United States.". On 9 December
2011, the U.S. Vice Consul issued to petitioner a "Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States"
effective 21 October 2010. On 15 October 2015, petitioner filed her COC for the Presidency for the
May 2016 Elections. Petitioner's filing of her COC for President in the upcoming elections triggered the
filing of several COMELEC cases against her which were the subject of these consolidated cases.
Petitioner claims that she will have been a resident for ten (10) years and eleven (11) months on the
day before the 2016 elections.
ISSUE: Whether Grace Poe- Llamanzares is a natural- born Filipino citizen
HELD: YES. GRACE POE is considerably a natural-born Filipino Citizen. There is high probability that
Poe’s parents are Filipinos, as being shown in her physical features which are typical of Filipinos, aside
from the fact that she was found as an infant in Jaro, Iloilo, a municipality wherein there is 99%
probability that residents there are Filipinos, consequently providing 99% chance that Poe’s biological
parents are Filipinos. Said probability and circumstantial evidence are admissible under Rule 128, Sec
4 of the Rules on Evidence. The SC pronounced that FOUNDLINGS are as a class, natural born- citizens
as based on the deliberations of the 1935 Constitutional Convention, wherein though its enumeration
is silent as to foundlings, there is no restrictive language either to definitely exclude the foundlings to
be natural born citizens. Foundlings are automatically conferred with the natural-born citizenship as
to the country where they are being found, as covered and supported by the UN Convention Law.